Gas-producer.



No. 686,629. Patented Nov. l2, l90l.

. R. L. MORGAN.

GAS PRODUCER.

' (Application filed Sept. 20, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

No. 686,629. Patented Nov. I2 190:.

- R. L. MORGAN.

GAS PRODUCER.

(Application filed Sept. 20, 1899.) (No Model.)

2 Sheets$heet 2.

m: scams PEYERS coy. Pam-aural)" WANINGTON. a. c,

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH L. MORGAN, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO THE MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF \VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

GAS-PRODUCER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 686,629, dated November 12, 1901.

Application filed September 20, 1899- Serial No. 731,045. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RALPH L. MORGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gas- Producers, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings forming a part of the same, in whichto Figure 1 represents a plan view of a gasproducer embodying my invention, the com- 'bustion-chamber being shown in horizontal sectional view. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional view of so much of the gas-producer as is necessary to illustrate the nature and character of my invention. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of one of the scraper-arms on line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4: represents a top View of two gas producers placed in line with an ash pit or trench below the floor and an end less-chain scraper and conveyor by which the ashes collected in the trenches are conveyed to a receptacle. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a gas-producer with the floor containing the ash-pit shown in sectional view on line 5 5, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a side view of the two gas-producers shown in Fig. l, with the floor shown in sectional View on the line of one of the ash-conveyors.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the different figures.

The objects of'my invention are to provide improvedmeans for discharging the ash and non-combustible material from the producer;

to provide means for the agitation of the fuel in order to prevent the formation of ducts or air-passages; to provide means for moistening the ashes before their delivery; to provide a simple construction of the ash- 40 receptacle and ash delivering'mechanism which will allow convenient'acc'ess to the ash-chamber; to provide means whereby the ashes or other non-combustible material are delivered entirely outside the combustionchamber and ash-receptacle, and to further provide means for gathering the ashes discharged from the gas-producer into a pit or trench and for conveying the collected ashes discharged from several producers placed in a line into a common receptacle, and these objects are attained by means of the con struction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter described, and set forth in the anneXed claims.

Referring to the drawings, A denotes the combustionchamber; B, the ash-hopper, constructed in the present instance of cast iron and provided at its upper edge with a flange B, on which a masonry wall A is supported, inclosing the combustion-chamber A. The ash-hopper is provided at its lower edge with a series of pointed teeth B forming a serrated edge, and it is supported upon feet B which rest upon the bottom of an ashpan C. I The ash-pan 0 forms the bottom of the combustion -chamber and is provided at its center with the hub C, extending upwardly into the ash-hopper'B, and also with a downwardly-extending hub 0 said hub forming a bearing for a hollow shaft.

The bottom of the ash-pan C rests upon a floor of masonry and is provided with upturned edges C extending a short distance above the lower serrated edge of the ash-hopper, and between the serrated edge of the ash-hopper and the bottom of the ash-pan C is an open space D, through which the ashes are forced from the ash-hopper into the annular-space C between the upturned edge 0 and the outside of the ash-hopper B. J ournaled in the hubs C and C is a hollow shaft E, rotated by driving mechanism consisting in the present instance of a worm-gear E, engaged by a worm E carried by a shaft E and driven by the cones E E. The shaftE is provided with a central hole E, which extends throughout its length, and attached to the upper end of the shaft E are scraperarms F F, which project from the upper end of the shaft E with a slight downward'curve 0 toward the bottom of the ash-pan O. The front and rear edges F F of the scraperarms are also slightly curved, as shown in plan view in Fig. 1, and the arms rotate in the direction of the arrows 1 1, Fig. 1. The 5 scraper-arms F are thicker at their rear edges F than at their front edges F, as shown in sectional view in Fig. 3, in which the direction of the movement of the scraper-arms is 7 indicated by the arrow 4. The driving mech- 10o anism of the shaft E is located in a pit G, to which air is supplied through a conduit H and a jet of steam is introduced by a steampipe I.

The upper end of the hollow shaft E is covered by a hood F raised above the upper end of the shaft, to allow the current of air and steam to pass into the combustion-chamber, and a depending annular flange F carried by the upper end of the shaft E, overlaps the upper end of the hub O. In the operation of the gas-producer the mass of fuel contained in the combustion-chamber A rests upon the bed of ashes contained in the ashhopper B and supported upon the bottom of the ash-pan C, and the ash-pan O is supplied with water, as indicated by the broken line J. A slow rotary motion is imparted to the scraping-arms F F, which causes the lower stratum of ashes submerged in water contained in the pan G to be forced outwardly through the open spaces D between the bottom of the ash-pan and the serrated edge of the ash-hopper in the direction of the arrows 2 2, Fig. 2, and into the annular space 0 As the annular space G becomes filled with ashes they are crowded upwardly over the upturned edge C in the direction of the arrows 3 3, Fig. 2, of the ash-pan and allowed to fall by gravity upon the floor K, from which they are removed by the attendant, or they may be allowed to fall into pits and removed by a mechanical conveyer, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Clinkers and similar non-combustible material are crowded by the scraperarms F beneath the fixed teeth B of the serrated edge, by which they are ground or disintegrated, so that they may be pushed with the ashes into the annular space 0 Only the tips of thescraper-arms F approach the bottom of the pan 0, the main body of the arms being curved upwardly to their point of connection with the rotating spindle E, so that they extend through the mass of ashes into the body of fuel contained in the combustion-chamber, and as they rotate the fuel contained in the combustion -chamber becomes gently agitated. The agitation of the fuel by the rotation of the scraper arms causes it to lie in a mass of uniform thickness upon the bed of ashes in the ash-hopper and prevents the formation of air ducts or passages through the mass of fuel which is likely to occur when the fuel remains in a state of rest. The formation of ducts or passages through the fuel allows the blast of steam and air admitted through the hollow shaft E to pass upwardly through the fuel, producing an uneven combustion and forming clinkers.

The agitation of the fuel is not only caused by the elevation of the central section of the scraper-arms, but it is also increased by making the scraper-arms thicker at their rear edges F than at their front edges F, so that as the inclined upper surface F of the scraper-arms pass beneath the fuel a slight lifting and falling motion may be imparted to the fuel which is raised while in contact with the surface F and falls when it reaches the rear edge F The upturned edges C of the ash-pan extend a short distance above the serrated edge B of the ash-hopper and also some distance above the level of the floor K, so that as soon as the annular space 0 becomes full of ashes the overflow from the ash-pan is carried downwardly by gravity upon the floor entirely outside of the ash-pan.

The space D allows access to the ash-hopper from the annular space C" of the ash-pan, and the flange F protects the bearing of the hollow shaft from ashes.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 I have shown an arrangement of two gas-producers L L, placed in line with parallel ash pits or trenches L L on each side of the gas-producers. Between the ash-pits L L and between the gas-producers the floor is inclined in opposite directions, as shown at L L The two inclined surfaces L L meet at an apex L on the central line of the gas-producers, so that the ashes discharged over the side walls (3 of the ash-pans will be conveyed by the inclined floor-surfaces L L into the two parallel ash pits or trenches at each side of the gas-producers. Running in the ash pits or trenches L L are endless-chain conveyers M M, carrying scrapers N N, by which the ashes are scraped along the bottom of the ash pits or trenches in the direction of the arrow 5, Fig. 6, and conveyed through an elevated trough O to a spout P, through which they are conveyed to a car Q. The endless conveyer-chains M M are suitably supported throughout their length by rolls R R and are driven by the sprocket-wheels S S, attached to a revolving shaft '1. The discharge and removal of ashes from the gas-producers is thereby rendered entirely automatic.

What I claim as my invent-ion, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a gas-producer, the combination with a combustion-chamber, of a pan having a bottom forming the bottom of said combustionchamber and extending radially beyond the walls of the chamber, masonry walls supporting the outer edge of said pan and inclosing a pit beneath the center of the pan, a hub extending upwardly from the center of said pan forming a bearing for a rotating shaft, a 1'0 tating shaft journaled in said bearing and scraper-arms carried by said shaft, substantially as described.

2. In a gas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber, a pan having a bottom forming the bottom of said combustion-chain her and having raised sides and provided with a bearing in its center for a rotating shaft, a rotating shaft and scraper-arms carried by said shaft and rotating in the plane of the raised sides of the pan, substantially as described.

3. In a gas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber having a bottom pro vided with a bearing for a vertical rotating shaft, a vertical rotating shaft and scraperarms attached .to said shaft at some distance above the bottom of the combustion-chamber, said arms extending outwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said chamber, substantially as described.

4:. In agas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber having a bottom provided with a bearing for a vertical rotating shaft, a vertical rotating shaft, scraper-arms attached to the upper end of said shaft and at a distance above the bottom of the combustion-chamber, said arms extending radially outward and being curved downward toward the bottom of the combustion-chamber, and means for rotating said arms, substantially as described.

5. In a gas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber, a pan having a bottom forming the bottom of said combustion-chamber and having raised sides extending above and outside the lower edge of said combustion-chamber and with a bearing in its center for a rotating shaft, a rotating shaft and scraper-arms carried by said shaft and rotating in the plane of the raised sides of the pan, substantially as described.

6. In a gas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber,a rotatingshaft,scraperarms carried by said shaft having their upper surfaces inclined to the plane of rotation of said arms, substantially as described.

7. In a gas-producer, the combination of a combustion-chamber, an ash-hopper having vertical walls flush with the walls of the combustion-chamber and provided with teeth on their lower edge, a bottom extending radially beyond the walls of said ash-hopper and having a space between said bottom and the serrated edge of the ash-hopper, raised sides at the outer edge of said bottom forming a pan,

by said shaft and rotating in the plane of the raised sides of the pan, and a trench or pit below the bottom of said pan into which the ashes are delivered by gravity, substantially as described.

, 9. In a gas-producer, the combination with the ash-hopper provided with a bottom, of scraper-arms for forcing the ashes off said bottom, an ash pit, or trench, below the edge of said bottom, scrapers for removing 'the ashes from said pits or trenches, and means for moving the scrapers lengthwise said pits or trenches, substantially as described.

10. In a gas-producer,the combination with the ash-hopper provided with abottom, of an ash pit, or trench, inclined surfaces beneath the edge of said bottom, whereby the ashes delivered by the producers are conducted to said ash-pit, and means for forcing the ashes radially from said bottom upon said inclined surfaces, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this the 14th day of September, 1899.

RALPH L. MORGAN. 

